Messi vs Maradona at the World Cup: Leo overtook in goals, but Diego has a trophy

Leo Messi is approaching the World Cup final with impressive statistics in the main duel of life – the absentee rivalry with Diego Maradona.

•‎ Leo overtook Diego in matches – 25 to 21.

• The main achievement of Maradona has not yet submitted to Lionel: Argentina did not win the World Cup with him. This tournament is the last chance.

• In World Cup goals, Messi overtook both Maradona and, importantly, Batistuta with 10 goals. Before the tournament in Qatar, this was the best result of the Argentines at the World Cup

• Even at the last tournament, Messi beat Maradona in dribbles, but will certainly not break the record: Diego had 53 dribbles at the 1986 World Cup. But Leo is also good: 46 at the 2014 World Cup is the third best result in history (after Maradona and Jairzinho).

• Messi caught up with Maradona in the number of assists. True, Diego scored most of the statistics in one championship: in the victorious 1986, the Argentine scored 5 goals and gave 5 assists. For comparison: in 1990 (Argentina finished second), Maradona had only 2 assists and not a single goal.

Maradona 1986 – the peak of genius. This is the best individual performance in World Cup history.

Messi at the World Cup

2006. 3 matches, 1+1 Argentina were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Germany (1:1, 2:4 on penalties), but Leo did not play in this match.

2010. 5 matches, 0+1 Eliminated in 1/4 from Germany (0:4).

2014. 7 matches, 4+1 Reached the final, where they lost to Germany (0:1). Leo became the best player of the tournament.

2018. 4 matches, 1+2 Eliminated in 1/8 from France (3:4).

2022. 6+ matches, 5+3  Pulled the match against Mexico, scored the winning goal against Australia, goal+pass against the Netherlands and goal+pass against Croatia.

Maradona at the World Cup

1982. 5 matches, 2 goals Argentina eliminated from the second group stage, Maradona retired against Brazil.

1986. 7 matches, 5+5 Argentina won the tournament, Diego became the best player.

1990. 7 matches, 0 + 2 Lost to Germany in the final (0:1), Maradona received the “Bronze Ball” of the tournament.

1994. 2 matches, 1 + 1 Argentina lost in 1/8 to Romania (2: 3), but without Maradona: before the last match in the group, Maradona was tested positive for 5 substances at once: ephedrine, norephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norpseudoephedrine and methylephedrine . He was disqualified.

And here’s who they scored.

 

•‎ Maradona has 4 goals in the playoffs, Messi has 3. Before the World Cup in Qatar, Leo had never scored in the playoffs of the World Cup.

•‎ Both did not score in the same tournament: Maradona missed 1990, Messi missed 2010.